Hymenoptera

“ Thus we find throughout the order a degree of care for offspring unreached by other insects, and this family-life has, in the best known of the Hymenoptera—ants, wasps and bees—developed into an elaborate social organization.
Social Life.—The development of a true insect society among the Hymenoptera is dependent on a differentiation among the females between individuals with well-developed ovaries (“queens”) whose special function is reproduction; and individuals with reduced or aborted ovaries (“workers”) whose duty is to build the nest, to gather food and to tend and feed the larvae. ”

“ Indian naturalists as a whole and oriental entomologists in general will gladly welcome this publication. The Hymenoptera have not attracted numerous workers and students as the Lepidoptera have done, and yet, as our author remarks, the "Hymenoptera have a right to be considered the most highly developed mentally of all insects." Many observations have proved this, but many also are lost through field naturalists being often unable to recognise the species, nay, even the genus, of the insect whose economy or traits they have observed. ”

“ The "aculeate", or stinging, Hymenoptera, are divided into sections and families according to their structure; but the groups which stand out most clearly in regard to their habits are the solitary and social species, the predaceous and non-predaceous and the inquilines or cuckoos. {4}
The vast majority of the aculeate Hymenoptera are what are called "solitary", i.e. one male and one female alone are interested in the production of the nest; but there are also three "social" groups—the ants, the true wasps, and the humble and hive bees. ”

“ The Hymenoptera belongs to one of the most interesting and extensive orders of insects. The structure and habits of the different species which it includes are very various. Their marvellous instincts have excited the admiration and wonderment of the philosophers of all ages. They are, indeed, by far the most intelligent of insects, being greatly in advance of any other group known to exist. The Hymenoptera are mandibulate insects, their mouths being formed for biting, and they undergo complete metamorphoses. ”

“ The same may be said of the true Neuroptera, Trichoptera (Fig. 157) , the Coleoptera, and the Diptera, Lepidoptera, and Hymenoptera. As we have observed in the house fly, [27] the wings are evidently outgrowths of the meso- and metanotum; we have also observed this to be most probably the case in the Lepidoptera, from observations on a Tortrix in different stages of metamorphosis. It is also the case with the Hymenoptera, as we have observed in bees and wasps; [28] and in these forms, and probably all Hymenoptera, the wings are outgrowths of the scutal region of the notum. ”

“ About 30,000 species of Hymenoptera are now known.
Characters.—In all Hymenoptera the mandibles (fig. 1, C, D) are well developed, being adapted, as in the more lowly winged insects, such as the Orthoptera, for biting. The more generalized Hymenoptera have the second maxillae but slightly modified, their inner lobes being fused to form a ligula (fig. 1, B, b) . In the higher families this structure becomes elongated (fig. 2, g) so as to form an elaborate sucking-organ or “tongue.” ”

“ After this bill of fare for Bembecids in the larva state, we must seek the motive which causes these Hymenoptera to adopt a mode of storage exceptional among Fossors. Why, instead of laying up sufficient food and dropping an egg on it, which would allow the cell to be closed at once without need of returning, does the Hymenopteron oblige itself to come and go perpetually for a fortnight from the fields to the burrow and back again, toiling every time through the sand to issue forth and hunt, or bring back prey? ”

“ Some authors have placed Coleoptera or beetles as the highest of insects, others claim for Lepidoptera or butterflies and moths a first place, while others, and with the best of reasons, claim for Hymenoptera the highest position. The moth is admired for the glory of its coloring and elegance of its form, the beetle for the luster and brilliancy of its elytra or wing-covers; but these insects only revel in nature's wealth, and live and die without labor or purpose. ”

“ Very commonly different species of aculeate Hymenoptera, inhabiting the same district, form the centres of mimetic attraction for insects of various orders, so that a considerable percentage of the insect-fauna can be arranged in groups according to the pattern of the particular model the species have copied. ”

“ In the former the conditions of life are similar in their broad features. Hymenoptera live chiefly in the air and fly by day, and in their mode of obtaining food do not present any considerable differences. Their larvæ, on the other hand, live under almost diametrically opposite conditions. Those of the saw-flies live after the manner of caterpillars upon or in plants, in both cases their peculiar locomotion being adapted for the acquisition and their masticatory organs for the reduction of food. ”

“ Finally, Bugnion states that while metamorphosis in the Hymenoptera is less highly modified than in the Muscidæ, it is more marked than in the Coleoptera and Lepidoptera. In these orders the pupa moves the abdomen, but in Hymenoptera it is absolutely immovable throughout pupal life, as long as the integument is soft.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE IMAGO IN THE DIPTERA The flies, particularly the Muscidæ and their allies (Brachycera) , are the most highly modified of insects, their larvæ having undergone the greatest amount of reduction and loss of limbs, this atrophy involving even most of the head. ”

“ The Hymenoptera are perhaps the most interesting order of insects, their brilliant colours, great activity, and unparalleled instincts rendering them alike attractive to the young collector and scientific entomologist. ”

“ The larvae of Hemerobiinae are parasitic on Aphides. The saw-flies are parasitic on plants. There are over 200,000 species known of the Hymenoptera parasitic or Terebrantia. The adults deposit their eggs in the eggs, caterpillars or adults of other insects, particularly Lepidoptera. The clothes-moth, for instance, is known to be subject to the attack of over sixty species of Hymenoptera. To such; an extent has parasitism been developed in this group, that the parasites themselves are attacked by other parasites, giving rise to the phenomena known as hyper parasitism. ”

“ We find it also occurring in the case of the social Hymenoptera; the workers of ants, bees, and wasps occasionally produce eggs parthenogenetically, and the progeny in these cases is always of the male sex. In the honey-bee the queen sometimes produces eggs before she has been fertilised, and the parthenogenetic young are then always of the male sex.
Some species of Hymenoptera exhibit two forms of parthenogenesis. In Nematus curtispina the parthenogenetic generation is generally of the male sex, but a female is occasionally produced ”

“ Many other Hymenoptera, honey-gatherers or hunters, are quite as spiritless; and I can assert to-day, after a long experience, that only the Social Hymenoptera, the Hive-bees, the Common Wasps and the Bumble-bees, know how to devise a common defence; and only they dare fall singly upon the aggressor, to wreak an individual vengeance. ”

“ Like butterflies, they have four wings for flying; but these wings, instead of being covered with scales—those scales that come off on your hand and look like dust—are simply membranes of a transparent or gauzy appearance. Hence the name hymenoptera that is given to these insects, a Latin name that may be translated as ‘membranous-winged creatures.’ Furthermore, they have at the end of the abdomen a very fine sting which comes out of its sheath when the irritated insect seeks to defend itself by pricking the venturesome fingers that have seized it. ”

“ Most Hymenoptera are of moderate or small size, the giants of the order—certain saw-flies and tropical digging-wasps—never reach the bulk attained by the largest beetles, while the wing-spread is narrow compared with that of many dragon-flies and moths. On the other hand, there are thousands of very small species, and the tiny “fairy-flies” (Mymaridae) , whose larvae live as parasites in the eggs of various insects, are excessively minute for creatures of such complex organization. ”

“ I was not once punished by a sting when I established myself amid colonies of our various predatory Hymenoptera, whose nests I overturned, carrying off larvæ and provisions. To induce the creature to use its weapon, one must lay hold of it, and even then the skin is not always pierced, unless one puts within reach a part more delicate than the fingers, such as the wrist. ”

“ In the different families of the Hymenoptera, there are various modifications of the ovipositor, in accord with the habits of the insects and the purposes to which the organ is put. The sting of wasps, ants and bees is a modified ovipositor and is used for egg-laying by the fertile females, as well as for defence. Most male Hymenoptera have processes which form claspers or genital armature. ”

“ The parasitic Hymenoptera, are so called because they lay their eggs in other insects, that their offspring may have - 33 - fresh meat not only at birth, but so long as they need food, as the insect fed upon generally lives till the young parasite, which is working to disembowel it, is full-grown. ”

“ It is very doubtful, for the Hymenoptera, occupied with mining at the end of March, would have to complete their metamorphosis and break forth from the cocoon in winter, or at latest in February. The severity of the climate at that date forbids any such conclusion. It is not when the bitter Mistral howls for a fortnight at a time and freezes the ground, nor when snow-storms follow its icy breath, that the delicate transformations of the nymph state can take place, and the perfect insect venture to quit the shelter of its cocoon. ”

“ These interesting members of the Hymenoptera, the avant-couriers of the social insects, can be seen any bright day in August or September busily engaged on the margins of ponds, ditches, and puddles in the procurement of building materials. They will alight close to the water's edge, and, vibrating their wings rapidly, will run hither and thither over the moist clay until they arrive at a spot which, in their opinion, will furnish suitable mortar. Quickly biting up a pellet of mud, they moisten it with saliva, all the while kneading it and rolling it between maxillæ and palpi. ”

“ Only two forms (male and female) of each species.
Fossorial Hymenoptera are distinguished from other Aculeates at present only by negative characters, i.e. they are Aculeates, but are not ants, bees or wasps. According to their habits they fall into four, by no means sharply distinguished, groups— (1) those that form no special receptacles for their young, but are either of parasitic or sub-parasitic habits, or take advantage of the abodes of other Insects, holes, etc.; (2) constructors of cells of clay formed into pottery by the saliva of the Insect, and by drying ”

“ Trochanters undivided; the hind-body consisting of from three to five visible segments; the female with an ovipositor, usually retracted, transversely segmented, enveloping a fine, pointed style. The larvae usually live in the cells of other Hymenoptera.
The Tubulifera form but a small group in comparison with Parasitica and Aculeata, the other two Series of the Sub-Order. Though of parasitic habits, they do not appear to be closely allied to any of the families of Hymenoptera Parasitica, though M. du Buysson suggests that they have some affinity with Proctotrypidae ”

“ Later, and gradually larger, will come the bigger joints.
In the mother’s absence the burrow must be closed to prevent awkward intrusions, but the entrance must be one opened quickly, without serious difficulty, when the Hymenopteron returns loaded with prey, and laid in wait for by audacious parasites. These conditions would be wanting in a tenacious soil, such as that in which the mining Hymenoptera habitually [236] establish themselves. The wide-open entrance would each time require long and painful labour, whether to close it with earth or gravel, or to clear it. ”

“ The wings in the Hymenoptera show a marked reduction in the number of nervures as compared with more primitive insects. The main median nervure, and usually also the sub-costal become united with the radial, while the branches of radial, median and cubital nervures pursuing a transverse or recurrent course across the wing, divide its area into a number of areolets or “cells,” that are of importance in classification. Among many of the smaller Hymenoptera we find that the wings are almost destitute of nervures. ”

“ As far as Lepidoptera are concerned, and certain of Hemiptera, they are right—the antennæ in these creatures are the seat of the organs of audition. But in Orthoptera, in most of Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and Diptera, and in certain bugs (Hemiptera) , they are located elsewhere. The habit that almost all insects have of retracting their antennæ when alarmed by noise, or otherwise, has done much to advance and strengthen the opinion that these appendages are the seat of insect ears ”

“ They generally undergo pupation in the same place as that which they inhabit as larvæ and indeed in their larval skin which hardens into an oval pupa-case. Some few leave their feeding place and pupate after traversing a short distance (Eristalis) .
As in the case of the Hymenoptera the structure of the larvæ can here also be explained by peculiarities in their mode of life. Creatures which live in a mass of food neither require special organs of locomotion nor specially developed organs of sense (eyes) . ”